1976/09/01 by G. M. Dillon
Arts and Humanities · #Theatre and Performance Studies
paper · doi:10.1332/030557377782843038
Rationalism has ceased to be merely one style in politics and has become the stylistic criterion of all respectable politics (Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics) Oakeshott’s observation applies a fortiori to the prevailing mode in the preoccupation of policy analysts, in the rhetoric of policy-making and in the administrative changes typical of more than a decade of governmental reform in the United Kingdom. The terms ‘rationality’ and ‘efficiency’, for example, figured prominently in the associated policy debates of those years and they are particularly characteristic, and perhaps even peculiarly reminiscent now of that period. However, the legacy of that mode in terms of the prevailing conceptualization of policy-making remains with us. It is the principal purpose of this paper to explore the ‘characteristic features of that conceptualization and examine the scope and function of the dramatic effect and symbolism which it has employed. No sustained attempt will be made here to detail a comprehensive alternative to this conceptualization. Before this can be done a preliminary attempt has to be made to specify the distinctive attributes of the approach – its particular traditions, peculiar preoccupations and specific outlook – so that its general appeal can be undermined.